Main Menu

Documentary Research Centre

Canterbury Museum's Documentary Research Centre is a rich source of written and pictorial documents with a focus on Canterbury and Antarctic Heritage.

The Centre can be used for many different purposes and welcomes everyone from students, to amateur and family historians, to those undertaking scholarly research in a wide variety of fields. Artists and authors also find the collection an invaluable source of information and inspiration.

Anyone who wishes to explore the collections is encouraged to visit or contact us.

Visit the Documentary Research Centre and discover a wealth of material documenting Canterbury people and places.

Letters and diaries offer intriguing narrative accounts from the past, while photographs and artworks capture our visual history in a compelling way. Maps and architetctureal plans record the landscape and built environment through time.

The Centre is home to many treasures, including the rare, the quirky and the unexpected. The collections have a Canterbury focus, however they also relate to broader topics including:

Our bicultural heritage

Immigration

Art history

Leisure and recreation

War

Work and education

Society and community

Alpine exploration

Whakapapa/Family History

Search for Maori and European ancestors using biographical indexes, written whakapapa, and passenger lists. These give information about birth, death and marriage dates, immigration arrivals and land transactions. Photographs of ancestors may be sourced using portrait indexes.

Factual information can often be enriched by personal perspectives from shipboard diaries, letters and other personal papers.

Two significant family history resources in Canterbury Museum's collection are:

The Clifford Collection of photographic portraits of Canterbury people, indexed by name.

The Macdonald Dictionary of Canterbury Biographies, comprising 22,000 biographical entries for Canterbury people, from prominent to less well known citizens.

Antarctic Collections

Canterbury Museum holds one of the world's premier Antarctic collections. Breathtaking photographs and artworks capture the landscape and human activity over time. Original sledging diaries, ships logs and correspondence provide information and personal perspectives. A wide range of published information supplements original documents.

Areas of research include:

Heroic Era expeditions

The International Geophysical Year

The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Antarctic science

The historic huts

The Antarctic Treaty

Antarctica in art and literature

Services

Reference Service

The Documentary Research Centre staff have an excellent working knowledge of the collections and are happy to assist with your enquiry. They will show you how to use the Centre's indexes, catalogues and finding aids, and can also search the Museum's collections database on your behalf.

Share this page

Did you know?

Blind as a bat

Bat echolocation is a perceptual system where ultrasonic sounds are emitted specifically to produce echoes. By comparing the outgoing pulse with the returning echoes the brain and auditory nervous system can produce detailed images of the bat's surroundings.

RealStories

Tales of Canterbury’s heritage

Wander the streets of early Christchurch, where ladies ordered whale-bone corsets and men puffed on ivory pipes. See how people traversed the country by land and sea and learn about life in the city on the plains.

RealLife

Learn about our world

Visit the Bird Hall to see beautiful displays and dioramas of all our native species, including rare and extinct birds. In the Geology gallery discover spectacular fossils and learn about New Zealand’s fascinating marine reptiles. Find out more →

RealHistory

Venture into the past

The Asian Gallery is home to an intriguing collection of Eastern treasures. Be inspired by the intricate craftsmanship and detail of objects ranging from swords of the Samurai to delicate Chinese snuff bottles. Find out more →

RealDesign

Celebrate style and creativity

Immerse yourself in a world of tweed and taffeta, frocks and flying suits with NZ’s premier costume collection. Explore the detail of the stunning decorative arts housed in the magnificent 1870 Mountfort Gallery. Find out more →

RealCool

Antarctic adventures of discovery

Epic adventures of Antarctic heroes come to life as you learn about the polar environment and marvel at the vehicles that carried the explorers across the ice. Find out more →

RealPeople

Individuals that shaped history

Step into the realm of pioneering men and women, brave Antarctic explorers, local sporting legends and eccentric collectors. The Museum is home to a wealth of stories about the personalities behind the artefacts. Find out more →

RealNZ

Share our unique taonga

Visit the Iwi Tawhito and Ngā Taonga galleries to share the treasures, or taonga, of the early Māori. See intricate wooden carvings, tools and weapons of bone and greenstone from the time when moa hunters stalked their giant prey. Find out more →

RealFun

Explore the natural world

Discovery, our natural history centre for children, is bursting with weird and wonderful things to explore. Dig for fossils, say “hi” to the live tarantulas and learn all about our amazing world and the creatures that share it. Find out more →